Lab Members

Graduate Students

 Greg Wann, PhD Student, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology

In 2007 I began working for Dr. Cameron Aldridge as a research technician in the Gunnison Basin. In 2012 I completed my masters degree in ecology with Dr. Cameron Aldridge and Dr. Tom Hobbs acting as my graduate advisors. My project focused on modeling population demographics of white-tailed ptarmigan using long-term data for birds studied in central Colorado. I will still work with white-tailed ptarmigan for my PhD, but my interest is shifting towards examining the role plant and insect phenology play in influencing seasonal fecundity of ptarmigan. I feel very fortunate to be spending my time as a graduate student working in alpine habitats with ptarmigan.

 

 

Danny Martin, PhD Student, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology

I am working with Cameron Aldridge and Larissa Bailey to investigate environmental drivers of changes in reptile distributions in the Great Plains. I was employed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for almost 7 years prior to starting my PhD in 2011. My research interests include habitat degradation/fragmentation, animal movement and habitat use, survey and monitoring methods, citizen science, and species distributions - all as they relate to conservation and land management. I am currently a Co-Chair of the Colorado Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, and served for 4 years as Director-at-Large of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society.

 

 

Jennifer Timmer, PhD Student, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology

I grew up in rural southern Michigan and graduated from Michigan State University in 2006. I then worked on several wildlife projects with some cool critters across the southwest and midwest before attending Texas Tech University for my Master’s. I estimated the population of lesser prairie-chickens in Texas and created spatially-explicit models to explain lek density. I started my PhD under Drs. Cam Aldridge (ESS) and Maria Fernandez-Gimenez (FRS) in Jan. 2013. I will examine how several sagebrush fauna respond to habitat structure within the current rangeland management framework, and determine how to revise this framework to incorporate wildlife habitat structure if needed. I am interested in spatial ecology and how landscape features at a local and large scale influence species’ demography. I am also interested in applying this information towards wildlife and range management.

 

Shawna Zimmerman, MS Student, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology

I am a master’s student working under Dr. Cameron Aldridge (CSU/USGS) and Dr. Sara Oyler-McCance (USGS). Originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest, I studied biology and botany at Boise State University in Idaho earning a bachelor’s degree. After graduation, I took a detour into the world of horticulture and crop development before finding my true career calling upon working a field job for an ecologist at the Bureau of Land Management in Boise, ID. I have since landed in Colorado and chosen to pursue an advanced degree in ecology. My research will involve investigating the landscape genetic vulnerability of Gunnison sage grouse.

 

Research Associates and USGS affiliated staff

Joanne Saher, Research Associate, NREL, Colorado State University

I began my research career in the Canadian Rockies, studying the movement and habitat use patterns of grizzly bears and wolves.  After seven years in the mountains, I opted for a change of scenery and headed to the prairies where I worked on a project investigating the habitat use patterns of greater sage-grouse.  After years of field work, I finally embarked on a graduate degree at the University of Alberta studying habitat selection of woodland caribou during winter and along migratory pathways.  Shortly after finishing my degree, I moved to Fort Collins where I began work as a contract statistician and habitat modeler.  I became a Research Associate at NREL in 2009 and have worked primarily on Gunnison sage-grouse habitat modeling and conservation issues.  My current research interests include habitat modeling and conservation planning for at risk species.

Spencer Schell, Ecologist, US Geological Survery, Fort Collins Science Center

I was born and raised in Wyoming, and received a BS in Zoology & Physiology from the University of Wyoming. I subsequently spent seven years as a research associate at UW studying rangeland grasshopper outbreak ecology and management. After being exposed to my fair share of pesticides, I came to work for Cameron Aldridge at the USGS in 2006. Despite having never taken any sort of botany or range management courses, I now work primarily on mapping sagebrush habitat conditions and invasive weed distributions in the western US.

Sara Simonson, Research Associate, NREL, Colorado State University

I work as a project coordinator with the Aldridge Lab and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.  Since completing my MS degree at Colorado State University in butterfly ecology, I have worked on a variety of research projects involving plant and animal species distributions.  As a graduate student in the Watershed Science program, I am particularly interested in methods for field data collection, distributions of native and non-native plant species in space and time, and the patterns of natural and human disturbances affecting mountain snow systems.